NAME

        aecattr - aegis change attributes file

DESCRIPTION

        A change attributes file is used to describe the modifiable portion of a change.

CONTENTS

        A change attributes file contains the following fields:

        description = string;
                This field contains a detailed description of the change.

        brief_description = string;
                This field contains a brief description of the change.

        cause = ( ... );
                This field describes the cause which motivated the change.

                external_bug
                        The change was created in response to a bug report from outside the
                        development team.  This repairs existing functionality.

                external_enhancement
                        The change was created in response to an enhancement request from outside
                        the development team.  This adds new functionality.

                external_improvement
                        The change was created in response to an improvement request from outside
                        the development team.  This improves existing functionality.

                internal_bug
                        The change was created in response to a bug report from inside the
                        development team.  This repairs existing functionality.

                internal_enhancement
                        The change was created in response to an enhancement request from inside
                        the development team.  This adds new functionality.

                internal_improvement
                        The change was created in response to an improvement request from inside
                        the development team.  This improves existing functionality.

                chain
                        This cause is where you have a fix to fix a fix; tracking these is an
                        interesting quality metric.

        test_exempt = boolean;
                This field is true if it is not necessary to test the change.  It is, in general,
                desirable to test all changes, whether new functionality or a bug fix.  This is,
                however, a project management issue.

        test_baseline_exempt = boolean;
                This field is true if it is not necessary to test the change against the baseline
                before it is changed.  The test of the baseline is required to fail; this is to
                establish that the test has isolated the bug, and that the change has fixed that
                isolated bug.

        regression_test_exempt = boolean;
                This field is true if it is not necessary to perform a full regression test on
                the change.  If absent, defaults to true for all causes except improvements.

        architecture = [ string ];
                This field is a list of names of system and machine architectures on which the
                change must successfully build and test.

        copyright_years = [ integer ];
                This field details the years in which the change was worked on.  This field is
                present in trunk, branch and leaf nodes.

                As a change is edited, years in which the change was worked on accumulate in this
                field automatically.  Branches accumulate years as integrations occur.  You may
                need to manually edit this, though it should be rare.

        version_previous = string;
                This field records the "previous" version, mostly to simplify patch generation.
                It is only meaningful for trunks and branches.  It is set automatically when a
                branch is started or integrated.

        attribute = [ { ... } ];
                This is a list of (name,value) pairs, defining user specified attributes.

                name = string;
                        The name of the attribute.  By convention, names which start with an
                        upper-case letter will appear in listings, and lower-case will not.
                        Attribute names are case-insensitive.

                value = string;
                        The value of the attribute.

                Arguably, most change attributes which may be altered by the user (and some that
                can't) should be of this form.  Due to an accident of history, this is not the
                case.

SEE ALSO

        aenc(1) create a new change

        aeca(1) modify the attributes of a change

        aegis(5)
                aegis file format syntax

        aecstate(5)
                change state file format

        aepattr(5)
                project attributes file format

COPYRIGHT

        aegis version 4.24.3.D001
        Copyright (C) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002,
        2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Peter Miller

        The aegis program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details use the 'aegis -VERSion
        License' command.  This is free software and you are welcome to redistribute it under
        certain conditions; for details use the 'aegis -VERSion License' command.

AUTHOR

        Peter Miller   E-Mail:   millerp@canb.auug.org.au
        /\/\*             WWW:   http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~millerp/